Urban Interventions in Inner San Francisco | Simone le Grange

Master of Urban Design Thesis San Francisco / United States / 2005

5
5 Love 1,475 Visits Published
San Francisco is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The relationship of the urban settlement with the natural surrounds and topography, the relationship of land and water, and the views that this affords - in short its genius loci - is of special significance. In particular the topography of the land that surrounds the bay imbues the settlement of San Francisco with very unique qualities. The grid of streets that occupy this topography is generally defined by row houses and apartment buildings. The edges of these buildings that help define the streets as ‘public spaces’, is constituted of architectural elements such as stoops, bay windows and entranceways. Together these elements provide a rhythm of thresholds and transitional spaces that help to give a human scale to the adjoining sidewalks. As a newcomer to the city, I was awestruck by the city’s vitality and diversity. In a sense San Francisco contained many of the “urban” qualities which I as an architectural student had read about and which I aspired to create in my own design projects. This realization brought me to wonder about the 19th century (or older) city, and the many urban design problems it faces. Part of my understanding about what works in these cities, is realizing that which does not work. Amongst other issues that have negatively affected the qualities of the 19th century city, was the introduction of freeways in the 1940’s and 1950s. Since its inception, the introduction of the freeway into the historic city, as part of the ‘modernist project’, has resulted in the partial destruction of its fine-grained urban fabric, and social cohesion. While freeways generally increased vehicular movement, they consumed valuable urban land for a mono-functional use. They became barriers between neighborhoods. In the case of San Francisco the construction of freeways had a similar impact on the old fabric of the city. Inter-neighborhood connections were severed, visual linkages were obstructed, communities were disrupted, and with it, parts of the character of the city were lost. It is this destructive relationship between freeways and the densely developed fabric of older quarters of San Francisco that informs the broader enquiry of this thesis. More particularly the focus of my thesis is to investigate ways by which to address the consequences of this destructive relationship. In doing so I intend to concentrate on the area around the central freeway of San Francisco and to investigate how its removal can be justified by the resultant improved character of the area.
5 users love this project
Comments
    comment
    user
    Enlarge image

    San Francisco is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The relationship of the urban settlement with the natural surrounds and topography, the relationship of land and water, and the views that this affords - in short its genius loci - is of special significance. In particular the topography of the land that surrounds the bay imbues the settlement of San Francisco with very unique qualities. The grid of streets that occupy this topography is generally defined by row houses and...

    Project details
    • Year 2005
    • Work started in 2003
    • Work finished in 2005
    • Status Research/Thesis
    • Type Railway Stations / Urban development plans / Neighbourhoods/settlements/residential parcelling / Apartments / Multi-family residence / Social Housing / Showrooms/Shops / Bars/Cafés / Restaurants / Bus Stations / Urban Renewal
    Archilovers On Instagram
    Lovers 5 users